02/06/2025
Today’s black history fact…
William Henry Hastie Jr. was a legal scholar, civil rights advocate, and the first African American federal judge. His career broke racial barriers in the U.S. legal system and helped lay the groundwork for the Civil Rights Movement.
Born on November 17, 1904, in Knoxville, Tennessee, Hastie moved to Washington, D.C., with his family as a child. He attended Dunbar High School, a top school for Black students at the time.
Hastie earned both his undergraduate degree (1925) and law degree (1930) from Harvard University, later earning a doctorate in juridical science from Harvard Law.
Hastie co-wrote the legal strategy that led to the Supreme Court case Missouri ex rel. Gaines v. Canada (1938), an early challenge to segregation in higher education.
In 1937, President Franklin D. Roosevelt appointed Hastie as the first Black federal judge, serving in the U.S. Virgin Islands. However, he resigned in 1939 in protest of military segregation policies.
During World War II, he served as a civilian aide to the Secretary of War and fought against racial discrimination in the military.
On February 6, 1957, President Dwight D. Eisenhower appointed Hastie to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, making him the first African American federal appellate judge. As a judge, he issued many rulings that advanced civil rights and equality, influencing later landmark cases.
Hastie’s judicial work and advocacy paved the way for future Black judges, including Thurgood Marshall, who became the first Black Supreme Court Justice in 1967.
He passed away on April 14, 1976, but remains a pivotal figure in the fight for racial justice in the legal system.
✊🏾 🖤🤎
